10 Most Attractive Women in a 2008 Film

I'm retrospectively going back through the screen sirens, year by year! The only requirement for an actress to be on Emma's list of most gorgeous ladies, is that it has to be a 2008 film I've actually seen (as opposed to not seen and only seen images of them in the film. That's what precluded me from including Ana de Armas for Blade Runner 2049, even though from the promotional images I saw, she clearly looked stunning).

My archive of hotties from 2009 to 2019, if you fancy a peruse of my taste in guys and gals! I might conduct a statistical analysis through the years, to see if there are any actors or actresses who appear often over multiple years (spoiler alert: it'll be Rooney Mara, Dave Franco and Zac Efron), but that will have to wait until after my last exam next Wednesday!

10. Hayley Atwell, The Duchess

An opportune shift

In this working from home period during lockdown, I have to have video-conferences on an almost daily basis. This made me realise that the poster set-up that I'd had on the wall facing my work WebCam was suboptimal:

I absolutely adore the Nick Wilde plushie in the photo though, and wouldn't trade him for the world.

I liked Wonder Woman a lot, it was my tenth favourite film of 2017 (at the time of writing), and It probably makes my top 20 of 2017. But for a film to be rewarded a special spot on my wall, it has to be a bit more special than top 20, top 10 of the year! (It was awarded a place more due to the fact that it was based on a  Stephen King novel, which my favourite film also happens to be. More on that later).

In addition to being films which weren't the best representation of Emma's cinephile tastes, they were also too small to be spotted from the Webcam. So ideally, I'd want one film poster rather than two, large enough that its title could be recognised instantly.

Thus, I turned to my current obsession, and a film I seem determined to own all the merch for, Parasite:

This amazing artwork was done by The Geeky Illustrator. I had already bought a The Shawshank Redemption poster from him and was not disappointed, so I went back for more with this gorgeous Parasite poster. It complements the lime green of my wall so well (not to mention Nick Wilde's shirt), and the use of the son's tent for the second 'A' is just inspired!

So, going forwards, I can now have Webex calls with more confidence. Thank you, The Geeky Illustrator!

Product review: Original Fizzy Cola Bottles Retro Sweets Gift Jar (Berrymans Sweet Shop)

I ordered the Original Fizzy Cola Bottles Retro Sweets Gift Jar by Berrymans Sweet Shop to get me through the lockdown, as I have a sweet tooth and I like to snack on Cola bottles during the day.

These were not the standard I have come to expect from Haribo fizzy Cola bottles. They arrived, saturated with sugar. There was about 2cm of sugar piled up at the bottom of the bottle!

They were too acidic - I like the sour flavour of Haribos, but these went too far; no sweets should cause their consumer to grimace every time they're eating them! And they also didn't have the soft texture of Haribos. Instead, they were starchy and borderline stale.

At £9 for 585g, these sweets are considerably pricier per Cola bottle than the Haribos, and much less appetising. So, for the budget-concious of you out there, this represents a sage lesson for future lockdowns: stock up on Haribos!

The sweets that are available for sale on the internet are but a cheap (although ironically, more overpriced) imitation.

Grade: E

For more of my product reviews, click here!

Restaurant review: KIMCHEE (Holborn)

I was so delighted that Parasite rightly won Best Film and Director at the Oscars this year (as you can probably tell by me proudly wearing their merch!), that I had an informal victory lap in its honour. This involved having several drinks celebrating its win, but the most specific bit of celebrating I did was dining at a Korean restaurant, Kimchee.

Sadly, Kimchee did not serve the ram-don that was made so iconic by the thrilling scene in the movie, but it did serve bimbimbap, kimchee, pajeon, and various other staples of Korean dining, so I was excited to visit it, hoping that it would join On the Bab, BimBimBap and Gogi Korean Bar and Grill in the pantheon of fabulous Korean restaurants I’ve visited in London.

But this wasn’t to be. The food at Kimchee was awfully overpriced for what it was:

Those portions of kimchi are tiny, yet it cost £5!

OOTD: Repping my favourite and least favourite films of 2019

In this aesthetic, I'm pairing a Parasite T-shirt (my favourite film of 2019 and one of my favourite movies of all time; I was so buzzing to be proved wrong, and see it win Best Film and Best Director at the Oscars over CoD: WW1!) with a floral headband a la Florence Pugh in Midsommar. I despised Midsommar - it was all kinds of toxic indulgent garbage, but I will concede that floral garlands are a very pretty look.

T-shirt: RedBubble (bought online)

Floral headband: Accessorize

Earcuff: Etsy (bought online)

The result is a casual yet girly and very cine-literate outfit! Of course, a flower headband is only a miniature version of the full-on garland that Dani wore in Midsommar. But I did recently find a larger garland that was truer to the look:

Excuse my gross make-up-less face there. My face without make-up deserves a 15 rating.

It might be harder to square wearing this to work on Dressdown Fridays, though!

Lockdown activities: making a pizza from scratch

I decided to make the most of being stuck inside during the lockdown to try my hand at some cookery experimentation. This was what the result was:

It was delicious! A good thing about making a pizza from scratch is that you can pile on all the things you like, and none of the stuff you don't! 

10 Most Attractive Men in a 2019 Film

2018's list, in case you wanted to get a flavour for Emsy's taste in Hollywood hunks!

10. Lakeith Stanfield, Knives Out (new entrant)